Helene Berman

Helene Berman was born in London in 1952. She studied Fashion Design at London’s prestigious Harrow School of Art and Design in the middle of the cultural revolution of the 1960’s.
An award-winning student she was quickly launched to recognition by winning the Saga Mink and Sunday Times Fashion awards. On graduating, Helene found herself ‘snapped up’ by a leading woman’s fashion manufacturing company specialising in trousers. She was quickly promoted to head designer and undertook to start a new division, which she named Charles Gray London.
Having been exposed to the expertise of British manufacturing, Helene recognized the niche demand for a quintessentially English brand based on the strengths and quality of manufacture that was increasingly difficult to achieve outside of the UK. The brand proved to be a great success and after ten years, Helene took over the company. She expanded the product range to include jackets, coats, skirts & dresses. Very soon, the brand became synonymous with high quality, innovative and stylish tailoring.
In addition, Helene grew the Charles Gray brand into a successful fashion export businesses with all the principles of quality and taste that it is famous for today.
During the mid nineties Helene was invited by Harvey Nichols, the iconic Knightsbridge (London) based fashion store, to consult on the development of their own exclusive Harvey Nichols fashion label. This she did for a period of approximately two years whilst still developing and expanding the Charles Gray / Helene Berman brands. By this time the brand included a range of homeware accessories, stocked in exclusive London stores.
The clothing collection remains unique, in that to this day it is produced wholly in the UK using the best factories and technicians available. Fabrics are sourced from the world’s finest mills in France, Italy and Spain. Helene attends European fabric fairs twice a year in order to personally select the world’s best and newest fabrics from exclusive mills.
Inspiration for Helene’s collections is often drawn from classic cinema style icons, such as Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour and Grace Kelly in High Society.
Helene designs every piece in the collection and she remains the perfectionist that will accept nothing but the very best in terms of design and quality.
Over the last few years, the Charles Gray / Helene Berman collection has expanded to include a hat and accessories line, which has been selling out Worldwide.
Helene has been married to her husband Stephen for over forty years. They have two daughters, Sara and Amiee. Helene was an early negotiator of the juggling acts of being both wife and working mum.
Helene is not ‘all work and no play’, her favourite things include: Being Grandma to her five beautiful Grandchildren and her adored Pug and company mascot, Molly. Molly accompanies Helene to the office everyday. It is a rare sight for these two to be seen apart.
The Charles Gray / Helene Berman collections are sold in ‘high end’ retailers in the UK, Europe & the USA.
Source: http://www.heleneberman.com/about/